Heartache With Hard Work

Brooklyn Girl, You’re Going to Be My Bride – Barton Carroll

This track from singer-songwriter Barton Carroll is exactly the kind of free-flowing folk rock that really gets me going. It’s energetic, loose, and exceptionally clever without being too cute, with the line “I know she’s drowning in boys and a lot of hipster noise” only the most obvious example.

To be fair, the majority of the songs on his recent release The Lost One are far bleaker. They tend more toward slow-paced ruminations on the deeply hidden parts of the soul. The same sardonic wit which manifests itself in the wry humor of “Brooklyn Girl” is tinged with a dark streak. Where the former is content to poke gentle fun, the rest bite far deeper. Some of the best of these include the matter-of-fact”Those Days Are Gone and My Heart is Breaking” or the boot-stomping “Dark Place.”

In my book the lighter approach is superior, but your mileage may vary.

I’ve mentioned Neil Gaiman here before I think. He’s one of my favorite authors these days, something like a more whimsical Stephen King, a more prolific Douglas Adams, or a more literary Joss Whedon.

He’s got a great blog, regularly updated with all kinds of fascinating things, but I thought it was worth mentioning today because he’s made one of his books available for free. He actually held a vote on his site last month about which book it should be. I’m happy to report that my choice was the one that made it through. It’s called American Gods, and it’s one of the better books I’ve read in the last few years. And now you can read the whole thing for free thanks to the magic of the interwebs.

Of all his works, it’s the one that was the most immediately gripping. It’s also, I think, his most successful attempt to merge so-called speculative fiction with a contemporary novel. It’s kind of hard to imagine, but a book about Norse gods and ancient myths is also unmistakably modern.

The result is a book that’s quite insightful as well as extremely enjoyable reading. I think it took me all of two days to get through the 500+ pages a couple summers ago.

The long and short is that it’s totally free so there’s no excuse to not give it a shot. And if you like it, he’s got plenty of other free content as well as other novels, short story collections, graphic novels, and anything else you might desire.

Are You There Margaret? It’s Me God – The Lawrence Arms
God – John Lennon
Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine – Modest Mouse

So I’m back from New Orleans, after a fantastic trip. The main features of New Orleans are the seafood, the booze, and the jazz. And yet, despite being a vegetarian with no deep interest in alcohol or jazz, I had a stupendous time. It’s such a beautiful and strange city, with all these amazing old houses side by side with buildings in complete disrepair, literally falling apart. At least in the more tourist-oriented parts of towns the direct signs of Katrina are mostly gone, but it’s hard to do much of anything without feeling it to be a constant subtext.

I think I wouldn’t be able to deal with the weather in the summer but in February, there was nothing finer than the chance to take a week-long break from the snow and slush and spend a a few bright, sun-dappled days wandering the Garden District without a care in the world.

The above picture is a scene that really struck a chord with me for some reason. It’s the juxtaposition that really gets me, of a ramshackle apartment building with a gap that reveals a solid brick building, strong buy homey. And behind them both, a very modern – almost prosaically so – building that looks down on them with a quiet distance. It just seemed a metaphor for the whole place.

Anyways, I’ve got tons of stuff to write about here as a finally start to really dig into the new music from 2008. I’ll try and get some full album reviews soon, but today I wanted to spread the news about the new release from Cloud Cult. The owners of my favorite record of 2007 are already finished with their follow-up Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes).

Check out the LA Times blog to hear one new track. Or check out Pitchfork for a quick take on this song:

When Water Comes to Life – Cloud Cult

Neither song struck me with nearly the same force as my first listens to The Meaning of 8, but it would be unreasonable to except anything like that. These are solid, and suggest Craig Minowa and company have lost none of the magic touch. I will be waiting anxiously for the full record.

And one more picture, from an old cemetery in the Garden District. Apparently there’s a city ordinance that forbids burying anyone below-ground, which makes from some interest tombs…

I’m off to New Orleans tomorrow morning, which is very exciting for me, but which likely means no posting here for the next week. So yes, that does mean February is shaping up to be my least prolific posting month since I started this thing. Many apologies. I do really want to talk about about some new records (most notably Grand Archives and the Magnetic Fields) but it’ll probably have to wait until next week.

For now, how about some R.E.M.?

New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 – R.E.M.

The only thing I like about Valentine’s Day is that it gets people thinking about the people they care about. But in my mind, every day ought to be Valentine’s Day. When you have someone that you care about, who makes you feel like the world is a bright and beautiful place, why do we need some artificial holiday to get us to recognize that daily miracle?

It’s not like I only listen to love songs one day of the year. I listen to them every day, because love is a universal experience, one that infuses us in every moment. It makes no sense trying to lock it away. It should be all around us – to keep us warm on cool nights, to shield us from the drudgery, and to inspire us against all odds.

So, a few love songs that I enjoy any day, not just on one day in February.

Love So Pure – Puffy Amiyumi
Love, Love, Love (Love, Love) – As Tall As Lions
Perfect Lovesong – The Divine Comedy
Can’t Help Falling in Love – Eels

I’d like to continue a trend I started last month of posting on great songs that are so good that they overwhelm my ingrained concern about over-produced pop-punk. Today’s band is called The Starting Line.

Island

This song is serious Warped Tour fare, but in the very best way. Infectious, a bit of bombast, and a guitar line that would make the toughest Jimmy Eat World fan (yeah, yeah, a contradiction in terms…) swoon.

It’s the sort of song to make you wonder whether all those other stuff they did before might not have had a little more substance than you ever thought. I mean, if they can write a song like this, surely there must have been something more significant going on with their earlier emo-to-a-fault tracks, right?

Pick up their new record Direction and judge for yourself.

Yes, another political post. Tomorrow is the Super Tuesday to end all Super Tuesdays, so I don’t feel too bad about it. For a political junkie, this has been the most fascinating 6 weeks I’ve ever seen. Results wildly out of line with the polls, huge lead changes, the death of “momentum” as a meaningful gauge of a candidate’s chances, debates more wonkish than I’ve ever seen, and two candidates I’m super enthusiastic about…

And that’s just on the Democratic side. With the Republicans we’ve got Giuliani’s 50 million dollar delegate, Huckabee’s shock win in Iowa and all-too-predictable collapse, Romney remembering too late that he had a far better case as a smart business guy than he ever did as the cultural warrior, and the resurgence of McCain (which I’m not enthusiastic about in a strategic sense, but which does make me feel smart for predicting that he would win the nomination way back in November when he looked DOA).

Anyways, I got an e-mail today from a friend in California leaning toward Hillary asking me to make the case for Obama. I ended up with a fairly lengthy response and figured it wouldn’t hurt to post it here. Yesterday I made the emotional case. This is the strategic one:

1. I think they would be very similar in terms of policy. I think Hillary is a little better on health care, but I think they both would work hard to get something good done. On almost everything else, I find it hard to see a whole lot of daylight between them. Except…

2. Foreign policy. I think Obama is better here. Iraq isn’t a deal-breaker for me, but she did make the wrong call on an issue of tremendous importance.

Beyond that, Obama has people that I like a lot more working for him on this stuff. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who I really like. Samantha Power who is one of the people I most respect in the world on human rights/security stuff. I think he would make a real break with not just Bush but with the foreign policy stuff I didn’t like about Bill Clinton, too. Basically, he’d make proliferation a major issue, would focus on the element of a moral obligation in ethnic conflict, global poverty, etc. I think Hillary probably would be good on that stuff, too – I just don’t think it would get the front-and-center treatment it deserves.

I support caution, but I think it can too often be an excuse to not lead on some of this stuff. I just see her as more willing to accept that framing of some issues as too politically risky to touch, where Obama might be more willing to point out the elephant in the room (see the fight last summer about even talking to rogue states – where the foreign policy consensus is beyond stupid).

3. Governing majorities. I think since they’re so similar the big question is whether they can get the support necessary to accomplish the agenda. I think Obama has a major advantage here for three reasons.

a. People like him. I know it’s not really fair, and a big part of why people hate Hillary is because she’s a woman, but there’s still something to be said for someone who will be able to peel off some moderate Republicans in Congress. I’m not sure that could ever happen with her on big issues. Even if they agree, they would face serious backlash for going along with Hillary.

b. More importantly, I think his schtick will be really helpful on this front. Post-partisanship is a great way of framing stuff in a country full of people who are pretty liberal on most questions but who hate the term “liberal.” It’s the mirror image of Reagan, who tricked people into thinking they were more conservative than they really are. Obama creates a narrative that lets people support the liberal stuff they believe in without the pejorative baggage of the 80s and 90s.

c. Related to the two above…if those turn out to be true to any meaningful degree, it’s possible (not probable, but there’s a chance) that an Obama election could be seriously transformative. If he gets a bunch of independents to align with the Democrats or gets a ton of people super-motivated, his coattails could be HUGE. Hillary could very easily win 53/47, but it would be in a race with vituperative rhetoric and big fundraising for the GOP. No matter how perfectly things break, I can’t see her getting much more than that. But if things break right for Obama we could be looking at an electoral landslide, 56/57 percent of the vote. And it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility to imagine 60 seats in the Senate.

The short version: both can win, but only Obama can win in a blowout. And that could be the difference maker on health care and a bunch of other stuff. If the blue team has those seats, we’ll be able to push an agenda that WE want with a huge mandate. And if the Republicans stonewall, the public will blame them. That’s why the policy differences matter a little less to me. I think this is more than any election since I’ve been alive more about what kind of country we want this to be than it is about who will implement which policies.

Two final points, which may be somewhat duplicative, but which I’ll give their own numbers

4. It really scares me to imagine Hillary running against McCain. Her wedge against Obama is “experience” and “ready from day one” and all that, but none of that stuff will fly against him. He’s got more experience, more foreign policy cred, a better “tough guy” image, etc. Whereas Obama can run the same campaign, but with even better leverage. He can go after McCain all day on Iraq in a way that Hillary can’t. An he can cut into McCain’s one big strength – his appeal with independents – in a way that Hillary really can’t.

Plus, I’m really terrified of the scenario where 527s are running vicious attack ads on Hillary while McCain gets to pretend to be above the fray. I mean, sure, they’ll do that against Obama too. I just think that since a major part of his campaign is about why stuff like that sucks, people will be more likely to hold McCain accountable (same way Hillary ended up being hurt by going negative in South Carolina).

5. The more people see of Obama, the more they like him. He’s trailed in national polls the whole way, but the more he gets to do rallies, run ads, talk to people, etc. the better his numbers get. I think it’s telling that Feb 5th can’t come fast enough for Clinton, and that Obama would run away with it if he got another few weeks. There aren’t all that many people who will get more fired up about Hillary than they are right now, but there are a lot of people who can get way more excited about Obama. I mean, he raised $30 million just in January (which is close to breaking the QUARTERLY fundraising record), and a lot of that is small donations from people who can give more. Clinton has a much higher percentage of her contributions as maxed-out donations from people who can’t give anything more.

Okay, all that said…Hillary is a great, great candidate. I would LOVE for her to be president. And there are plenty of counter-arguments to be made against the stuff I’m saying here. I just see it as a situation where Obama might be a once-in-a-generation chance for a whole lot of stuff to coalesce into an election that changes the whole ballgame. No guarantees it’ll happen, but there will never be a better time to take the chance and bet on a real transformation.

Landslide – Smashing Pumpkins

(And yes, I am very much a product of my generation in that I actually prefer the Pumpkins cover over the original)

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The single best campaign video I’ve ever seen in my life. Perhaps one of the best anything I’ve seen. Seriously, it’s worth watching no matter who you support, simply as a reminder of what an astonishing world we live in, and how much we have to be thankful for.

I know a few words don’t make a campaign, and I know it’s not enough to just believe that things can be better…but sometimes I wonder if we give our smarter, more realistic, more jaded selves too much power. Sometimes I wonder if we pay too much attention to to the nitpicky details and don’t leave ourselves vulnerable to being moved. Bright, shining eyes and bold smiling faces alone do not make a movement – it takes a lot of nitty-gritty, down and dirty work. But a movement is not a movement without a dream, an ideal that binds it together, and lifts us up.

I believe in a world that is better than this one. I believe in the dream. And, in some ways, I can only believe in it when I know it’s impossibly vague, even a little naive. We will of course have to settle, to negotiate, to count votes and compromise our ideals. It does always come back to that – and I wouldn’t support Obama if I didn’t think he could do the hard work when it becomes necessary – but just for a little while, in some way, I think we all want, we all need, to feel part of something bigger than ourselves.

And so my support for Obama is not really a vote for him as an individual. It’s a vote for a way of thinking, a style of belief and hope that is so often left out of our politics.

One of my all-time favorite lyrics is from a Mighty Mighty Bosstones song: “Our Only Weapon.”

Maybe we’re being too naive
But this is something we believe
What’s beyond belief is just how much is wrong

I love it because it reflects a hopeless idealism that I think represents the best in all of us. Our capacity to love without fear, to live in truth, to hope against hope…these are the things that make us good.

To be sure, I recognize that it’s all a show. Obama is simply a man, full of faults, with far less idealistic policies than rhetoric. And I know that it would be foolish to expect a sea change in our politics. Personality-driven movements may begin with the noblest of goals, but all too often those things get lost on the wayside.

I know all these things, and yet, there is still a part of me that insists “just try to believe.” And in a race with two candidates, both of whom would be wonderful presidents, who support virtually identical agendas, who will fight for the American people, for Democratic values, and for democratic values, it’s enough for me. Maybe it’s a salve on my conscience, but I can’t help but want to hold out hope that yes, we can make a difference. That yes, we can find the strength. That yes, we can find it in ourselves to believe in a world worth saving.

Our Only Weapon – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Say Yes – Elliott Smith
If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart – Beulah
You Still Believe in Me – The Beach Boys

This is totally awesome. Over 200 people, participating in an Improv Everywhere project freeze in the same instant in the middle of Grand Central Station. Check out a post detailing the whole thing (h/t: Boing Boing).

In some ways it almost feels like the mirror image of something I posted on last year: world-famous violinist Joshua Bell plying his trade for an hour as a street musician in DC and the reactions (or lack thereof) of the passerbys. There, hundreds of people simply rushed past some of the finest music they’re ever likely to hear…

Not to imply they were wrong to do so. Beauty is such a subjective thing – it depends not only on the observer, but also on mood, time, location, and many other indecipherables. Part of what I enjoy so much about the Bell story is how much the moment meant for the few who did notice – to find something like that in the middle of a normal day, and just for a second to feel a strange and perfect intimacy.

And, while I’m on the subject of found beauty, here’s a song that makes me think of every perfect sunrise since time began:

Sympathy For Vengeance – Flowers of Hell